M&M's Blog

Friday, May 24, 2013

I'm starting to believe that most of the world troubles could be solved with poop!

Moles in the yard... put doo-doo down the holes, they go the opposite direction. Works for chipmunks too.

Dogs digging in the yard... put their bum brownies in the holes and cover it up, they won't dig there again.

People park in front of your house, cut through your yard because they are lazy and don't want to use the parking lot. We need a visual.

1. My House.
2. Where people park and cut through to the ...
3. T-ball fields.

So they park where that number 2 is (very fitting you'll see), I see them and when they are cutting through my yard... I nicely say, "Please don't park there. The Y is suppose to tell you not to park in our cal-du-sac." They have 4-5 year olds with them..... and I hear...

"It's a free country."
"You don't own the street."
"I live in this neighborhood."

The men get belligerent, men don't like to be told they can't park places I guess. I just shut up... hard to believe I know... but I got poo! Kenny shits like a horse, and top that off with two labs, God knows I have enough of it!

I go to their car and place the colon cannon balls in front of the driver door and passenger door. In the grass because I know that 4-5 year olds don't look for Hell's candy.

However, if the person has been a jerk and said, "I can park where I want!" or any of of the above smart ass phrases, I do the surround...

I put anal output by all four doors and right under the tires so they have to roll over it. Nothing says, "You're a shithead." like your car and garage smelling of feces.

Once I was lucky enough to hear the daughter, of one of the guys that yelled at me, shriek , "Ewww, I just stepped in poo!" I know you want to say, why drag their kids through this crap? But since the parents don't seem to mind yelling at me in front of their kids, I don't mind getting bun fudge on their kids shoes so they will have to clean it up.

Enough talk of dung, I need to go out and de-fecalize the yard so I can mow.

Friday, May 17, 2013

Okay, I'm back... hopefully for good this time, or till life gets in the way again. Since my last post was about a headboard Scotty and I made...... I will start with the desk to match the headboard we just finished to put in Ian's old room. Ian graduated last December, and started a new job in January. He is a Software Developer for a company called Sonoma Partners in Chicago. Yep, he flew the nest ... big time, he's now in an apt. 200 miles north of us in Evanston, Il. He's doing great, loves his job, so much so... he has only been to the lake once (when his dad and brother visited in April) which is just five blocks down his street.

Since a desk is a wee bit less emotional.... later I will get to my furbaby Kenny we got last September :) , and my sister Renee who we lost in February. :(

So... Ian took his furniture he had since he was about 5. Ian didn't want to take his furniture since he was sick of it... but I said, "Where you going to put your socks?" When the movers came, out went the bedroom furniture, along with my sofa and chair.... another story.

Here's his room...

He took his full-size bed off to college and we got a queen for in there and Scotty and I made the Macaroni Grill (post below) headboad for it.

So now he is gone, and I have no furniture in there except a bed. Brian works a lot, especially on the weekends, he usually goes in the basement and works at the bar down there. So I thought it might be nice if he got to look out a window once in a while. Scotty and I went wood shopping, I drew out what I wanted on a napkin, and Scotty planned on how he would put it together.

That's it on his kitchen table (yep he made that too) waiting for some corner and L brackets. If that red ribbon comes off, it all crumbles.... don't ask me how I know that. I never see Scotty happier than when he is playing with wood... oh wait...... playing with chopped down trees cut into nice long planks.

Once I got it, all nice and sanded with routed edges...... I stained and put some poly on it. Then I had to add some details so it matched the head board. Which was heavy paintable wallpaper, and the iron scrolls for the inner corners and some trim. Total cost was around $75. Brian picked out his own chair since he has to sit in it...... me..... I would of went with something cuter. :)

So Ian's old bedroom is now a guest bedroom and work space for Brian. I painted just the one wall with the stenciled black squares and made it orange....... toffee cream if you want the exact color, and YES, I did gravitate towards the color since it was named Toffee...... I figured it was mean to be! I painted the wall with a flat coat, then stenciled over it in the same color but a semi-gloss. It's very subtle, you can actually see it better in the pic than in the room.

I got some 12x12 frames, and matted with scrapbook paper and some images of Chicago landmarks... Field Museum, Lincoln Park Zoo and the Shedd Aquarium, places Brian and I went on dates.

And since it was the room Ian spent years 13 to 22, I wanted it to still be his in a way.

So I made a little homage to him.

I still have some wicker shelving from the family room to bring in there, but first need to find a bargain to replace them in the family room.... these things take time and luck.

And yes...... I took over Ian's closet..... and Brian did too. It's now a nice new home for whatever clothing is out of season...... and shoes..... lots and lots of shoes! Like these...

love these... got for $100 bucks off on Ebay. They make snow flakes in the snow!

I've been told women over 50 shouldn't wear over the knee boots, you need to ignore these people. Wear whatever you want!

I have a feeling it goes for black suede with a nice heel too

I thought Brian was going to make fun of these, but it's actually the first pair he said he liked! lol

I liked the tall ones so much, I had to buy the short ones, they too make snowflakes!

Friday, June 1, 2012

When we were in Florida we had lunch at The Macaroni Grill, while walking out I saw this partition they had and said to Brian......

Replace that frosted glass with some tin ceiling tile, that would make a really cool headboard!

So.... when I got home, I sort of planned it out quick in Paint Shop so I wouldn't forget.

Then Scotty and I went shopping....

I was originally going to use two faux ceiling tiles, but.... they weren't wide enough when we got it all sorted out. I also didn't use the garden hanging brackets I bought, and the wood caps and balls.

I found some brackets at the hobbylobby.com website that worked better.

For the tin ceiling tile..... I bought the same wallpaper I used for Scotty's kitchen backsplash.

We will see how it holds up, its pretty tough when you get paint on it. :) And it's only 13 bucks a roll. I used..... one piece.... have most of the roll left. I planned the panels on the headboard so I could swap out the panels and put something else in if I didn't want copper anymore.

Scotty is pretty amazing.... he looks at what I draw and sort of makes something out of it. We shop for wood, he cuts it all out and put's it together..... then takes it apart. I bring it home and stain it all, he usually spray paints..... since I get the runs. :) Then we put it all together again.

The whole thing came to about 118.00 but around 17-18 of that was shipping charges.

So back in the beginning of May, Brian and I went to Disney World for Brian's 50th birthday... he wanted to play golf at Disney. I sort of watched golf at Disney! I'd go back in a minute just to ride along, the courses are just beautiful. Osprey was my favorite, very wooded and lots of wooden bridges... and fast golf carts! The golf carts had GPS for all the holes and you could do fly overs of the course... and the cart beeped when it went on a green and the screen would flash for you to move.

Wednesday he played...

it wasn't very busy, we caught up with two retired guys that invited Brian to join them. Ralph and David, or Danny, something with a "D". "D" guy only had one arm..... and was fantastic! Very nice guy too, both were, it was fun!

Thursday he played...

our foursome included (not me, I'm just the driver) an 83 yr old man and his daughter, who just played the first 9, and a Brit named Kevin who was amazingly good! He must of been a park ranger in a past life because he spotted the Eagle, otter, and deer before the rest of us.

Friday we played...

with good friends Colleen and Steve.

Steve, me, Colleen and Birthday Boy!

Colleen and I made it for six holes and then chatted the rest of the way in the Not The Mickey golf cart. GREAT day! We saw an alligator this day. First one we ever saw at Disney, we were beginning to think they took them off the property because there are plenty of places for them and we've just never seen one.

What did I learn after watching mostly men play 54 holes of golf!

Golfers are housekeepers!

They hit the ball in the sand..... they go and rake the sand to get rid of footprints....

i.e. THEY SWEEP!

They play with one of their fancy clubs with the little dohickey cover on it, they put the cover back on it after every hole....

i.e. THEY PUT THEIR THINGS AWAY!

One of their balls, of the golf variety, will get dirty and they wash it

i.e. THEY DO LAUNDRY!

I said to the two old farts..... no wonder you all didn't want women golfing in the 50 and 60's, they'd find out you knew how to do housework!

Wed. and Thur. we were doing two parks a day and golf, and Friday we spent the day with Colleen and Steve. Saturday before our flight we did two parks, just caught our 7 o'clock flight and was home by 10:30.

We stay at our usual place Port Orleans - French Quarter. Just Brian and I, the kids were still in school.

Friday, March 30, 2012

One shouldn't get too excited over a new garbage can...... but I do! :) We always had those metal ones, and I think I have gone through four or five of them since we have been here, since I won't pay 100 bucks for a garbage can... I just can't do it.
(Couldn't find a close-up of my can! *g*)

So... since Scotty needed a project... I thought...
Garbage Can!!!!!!!!!

So he made a frame for the plastic liner from the old can.
(Notice his new kitchen floor we put in last month!)

He added beadboard, and framed it in..... also made a wee lid.

I painted it to match my cabinets, and here is my very exciting $12.00 garbage can!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Now.....before you read this, remember I was expecting acupuncture, that's all I remember being told about.

So the first allergen she was going to treat was the eggs. I go into the office, take my watch off or if I was wearing big hoop earrings, which I'm rather fond of, and sit and see if my ying/yang is okay...... if it is..... I go horizontal, front side down.

I hold the egg vial in my fingertips against my forehead, what I take some deep breaths and she sort of pounds the shit out of my back from neck to tailbone. I do that three times.

Then I sort of have to pant, while she pounds another way on my back.

Then I flip over onto my back.......and now Im expecting needles. Instead she brings out this little ummmmmmmmmassager type thingie. Nothing real big you could into any trouble with it. :) And she holds this for 30 seconds on some pressure points, hand, elbow, ankle and feet...... she goes clockwise, and does this twice around me.

Then I have to just rest there a bit.

She comes back, and tells me to stay away from eggs for 25 hours! Can't be 10 feet from an egg, anything made with eggs...... and that is very hard to do! Oh and also not by any down, or chicken either. You cant grocery shop, you can't eat out. But it's only 25 hours.

So I leave, and I immediately have a headache and I'm queasy.

I was pretty much queasy for a day, at the end of the 25 hours, you can be by eggs, you can eat eggs...... whatever.

That was on a Wed. and I go back for another treatment on Friday. But first she test me to see if I passed the egg test. The egg vials in my left hand, and once again I hold my right arm straight out and she tries to knock it down. I can resist, and it stays right up!

Friday she did Calcium (I stayed away from any milk products for a day), which didn't give me a headache but really really made queasy for days, and the following Monday I went back in, and she put the Calcium vial in my left hand, and I held out my right arm and I could keep it up. I knew this was the worst one before, all she had to do was tap my arm and it fell.

On to Vitamin K (I stayed away from certain fruits and veggies and other things I can't remember).

When I got up after the Vitamin K treatment, I said to her...... this is the goofiest thing I have ever seen or done! She said, she felt the same when she first did it also. :)

Now, by this time...... I have noticed my cough has gotten way better, I use to have a terrible time in the mornings, every morning! I was also getting out of breath walking up our stairs, due to my asthma..... and that went away also.

So all in all, it did work.........although I'm not off my meds, but I was able to stop taking Mucinex during the day and Benedryl at night before bed. I'm still on Allegra D and Flonase, Singulair, and Advair. I do think I can go to the lower dose of Advair though.

I don't know why I didnt have acupuncture and Craig did....... I now know Craigs treatments lasted longer and were more specific, I guess it depends on the Dr.

Now I paid close to 300 dollars for what I had done, it's not covered on insurance. Was it worth it?

I have to say ...... yes. I'm breathing a lot better, my cough is so much better I can't tell you. I don't crave sugar as much as I did before either.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

For this you just sit, and she pressed an index finger upon my forehead and pressed about three places in my upper chest. Switched the side of the index finger on my forehead and pressed my upper chest again......and then told me my ying and yang were out of balance. This is what most people think of when they think ying/yang.

The she did the index finger thing again, but also made a movement like make circles over my tummy. Going forward and backwards. :)

She had 15 vials of different allergens, I didnt know what vial contained what. I'm still sitting and she puts a vial in my left palm. I hold my right arm straight out with my thumb facing down. She says to try to resist her when she tries to press down on my arm.

So she does quite a few vials and my arms fine, I can hold it straight out. She asks me if its tired or if I need to switch arms, and I say ... no I'm fine. So more vials, and one...... I can't keep my arm straight when she pushes down on it, no matter how much I resist. She sets that vial aside.

She does another vial, and its fine......... I can resist.

Another one..... and my arm just flops, all she does is tap, and it's down. It's crazy!

She does the rest of the vials and one more comes up that I can't keep my arm straight. She tells me the good news...... I'm not allergic to sugar! She said..... actually I think your arm was the strongest there. :)

She retest the three vials, and this time told me what they were after....

Eggs

Calcium

Vitamin K

I said..... was calcium the one my arm was really weak at? She said..... yes why? I said, because I have a really hard time with phlegm after I drink milk or eat dairy products.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

So many have been asking about my NAET treatments that I can't tell you how many times I've told the story, just last week to a friend at lunch and she said I should blog about it......

I haven't blogged for a while, so I started up just for you Gina! :)

Christmas '11

While visiting with friends, Craig.... who has suffered from allergies and migraines for a long long time, told me about some treatments he had completed in the fall..... called NAET. He learned of this from someone in the family...and was at his wits end, he decided to try.

So the previous summer Craig couldn't even look down if his lawn after it was mowed because he would get a headache, that's how severe his allergies were. So he told he me basically what he did, and how at the end of the treatments he didn't need any of his meds anymore. Craig also said it involved a detox, acupuncture and was a bit like voodoo! :) His worse triggers were almonds, walnuts and coffee, on the way home from his last treatment.... he stopped at Starbucks, and at the grocer to get almonds and walnuts...... went home...... ate them all...... no headache!

I came home and googled, found a Dr. that practiced this near me and made an appointment for that week!

My First Appointment-
I go to a Chiropractor that has studied this NAET (Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques) program. It's basically a holistic approach to getting rid of your allergies among other things.

Dr. does a physical, you just have to remove your shoes and a your belt. I stood in front of a mirror and shut my eyes and walked in place. I did some things with my arms.

Next part was all horizontal, and she rubbed the top of my head, rubbed the arches of my feet, then the top of my head again, then my feet. Yeah.... I know! She poked all sorts of places on me, deep pokes! From head to toe. Ran her hands along my calves. Im sure some other things I can't remember.

Then we sat down to talk.......and she asked.... if I had trouble with my left knee. I couldn't believe she picked this out because I hadn't told anyone except Brian two nights before! Sometimes I just get a pain there, and it goes away pretty quick, and I hadn't even told my reg. Dr. about it, because it was no biggie.

She also thought I had a yeast infection and a parasite. Which I later did test on, and yeast yes, and parasite (thank God) no.

So I was pretty well floored right there that she picked those things out! I was aware of them, but never said anything to my regular Dr. about.

Then I was told I needed to do a detox. Two weeks of no gluten and sugar and lots of supplements. It was HORRIBLE! I've always thought I was addicted to sugar...... it seems it's gluten I cannot live without! I took all my regular prescriptions plus the supplements, I was taking about 30 pills a day!

I lost 6 pounds in two weeks and then went back to the Dr. She thought I needed another two weeks off sugar. Which I did, and survived....... but was very very cranky!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

I was just posting a reply to my wonderful Goddaughter Rachaels blog.... and signed in with gmail, which made my picture show, and I clicked on myself to see my blog.... and to my amazement I have not posted anything on here in over a year!

I haven't posted because I have been busy...... just boring! I truly am! I will show you how much!

Scotty's house is done on the inside, there is still lot's to do in his yard. I took a year off of painting and I promised him I would paint his deck this summer. And we promised to finish picking up rocks from the pool that was there and finish planting grass. I've been teaching him some web stuff and he still teaches me a thing or two. Last May he adopted a rescue dog...and they are a match made in dog heaven. Scotty needs to take care of something and Bomber is very needy!

Jewelry is still going strong! I have some new stuff coming out this year. Little book charms of Diana's first 8 books, finally some Claire's Ring hoop earrings. Which I have been wanting for myself for awhile. :)

Graphics on Cafepress doing well too...... even got a request to make a graphic for Hertz Rental Car. :) If I was smart I would devote more.... some time to this, I can see how people make serious money at it.

Still making websites for friends and friends of friends, mostly for fun, but some paying customers too. :) Made a massage site in Swedish and Finnish, and I made a site for a man in Scotland for a animal shelter in Portugal. So worldly I am!

Brian finally got back into project management at Lilly. He's very busy and a happy camper. I knew he was way bored with Six Sigma when he started looking for a part-time teaching position. :) But he's back in the Diabetes game in R&D at Lilly.

Ian is a Sr. at Purdue, he will have to go for another semester next fall since he changed his major, he's in Computer Graphic Tech. now, loves it. He is working for the Entomology Dept at Purdue with their website and newsletters. PT during school and FT in the summer.
Brian and Ian at a Purdue Game

Collin just got accepted at Ball State and he starts next year, with his major as of now Urban Planning. He is winding up his senior year, and has found a great group of guys and already has a roommate for college.
I knew I scanned his HS grad pic, but forgot to save it regular before I started messing with it to put on some moolah for him as a gift. :)

Hmmm trips.....
last family trip (I know I've said that before, but this really was!) to Disney last May. We drove for the first time and it was rather nice!

Went to Vancouver again in October, also spent a weekend with friends in Toronto.

Cheryl came to visit twice last year! Once in May with my moms sister Bette and my cousin Nadine... we had a Girls Weekend! Brian survived just fine!

Then Cheryl came again in November for Georgias daughter Kims baby shower...

Kim had a precious baby boy name Reid in December, who I haven't seen yet, but will soon!

Lego and Lola are also doing well! Lola loves deck patrol!

All the Neumann side is doing well..... and all of the Moore side too!

So we are incredibly blessed, because we all know that... is the most important thing!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

There were I dont know how many days, putting up insulation in Scotty's garage. We started when it was really hot out, and ended when it was getting really cold out. Neither of us could go for very long with looking up all the time doing the ceiling, so it took us forever!

What an icky job..... and itchy job too!

Then we headed back up to Brian's brothers and finished the faux wainscoting. For their wedding gift, I offered make their master bedroom all spanking new. Lot's of stripping of wallpaper, paint, and a amazing deal on chair rail molding. Never have seen it on clearance before, but $22 7 ft. pieces of chair rail for $8 bucks each! Saved a ton of money on it !

Scotty then made the molding for wainscoting insets. He got a new router, and he's been having fun with it ever since!

I thought I took a picture of the finished product, but I guess not. It looks really neat when all painted and finished. I came home looking where I could do it in my house! Here's almost finished!

I felt bad because their house had a lot of stairs and 80 year olds and stairs aren't a good match. One days work, and he's out of commission for a while, sad thing is..... so was I at almost half his age! :)

In my never ending quest in not having to get up to let the dogs out, that was accomplished this week! Brian put a doggie door in our sunroom screen door when we moved in here seven years ago, so three seasons out of the year, the dogs just come and go as they please.

Here's Lola trying to figure it out.

But in the winter, it's too cold to leave the slider open to the sunroom w/o losing a ton of heat. But....... Scotty to the rescue!

Lowe's or Home Depot usually have a little section for returned custom items, like custom paint colors for $5 a gallon, or even doors! We went to Lowe's for a piece of plywood to set a dog door in, and instead we found a 20 in. wide door for $5.55! A custom order someone didn't want or whatever, their loss... my doggie door door!

We can just pop it in for winter, and still use the slider to get in and out of the sunroom!

It's Wonderful!

Scotty's Guest Bedroom is done!

His amazing bed he made.... yes made, scroll down the blog to see the "before" pic. This is the most expensive thing in the room, it was $80 for wood.

The cubie thing, and a shelf made from scrap wood and old brackets from my half bath painted white. I covered the clearance shade I got with left over quilting fabric I had.

That I also used for the windows.

Which was left over from a quilt I got years ago for $20, that I made the window treatments out of for my guest bedroom.

Did I say done? I still have to stain the corner desk that he made out of a $20 used table,but that's basically it in there.

What an amazing man! Don't worry he's taken care of for Christmas, I have loaded him up with Peanut butter fudge and cookies!

Now I just have about four more batches of cookies to make, a bit of gift shopping, and a lot of food shopping, and I will be set for Christmas!

About Me

Just a place to gather all the things I like to do...
books I've read, graphics or websites I've made. Also, the latest that's going on with The Author's Attic. And of course, family things and labrador things too.